Capacitive touch sensors may be used to replace mechanical buttons, knobs and other similar mechanical user interface controls. The use of a capacitive sensor allows for the elimination of complicated mechanical switches and buttons, providing reliable operation under harsh conditions. In addition, capacitive sensors are widely used in modern customer applications, providing new user interface options in existing products.
Capacitive touch sensors can be arranged in the form of a sensor array for a touch-sensing surface. When a conductive object, such as a finger, comes in contact or close proximity with the touch-sensing surface, the capacitance of one or more capacitive touch sensors changes. The capacitance changes of the capacitive touch sensors can be measured by an electrical circuit. The electrical circuit, supporting one operation mode, converts the measured capacitances of the capacitive touch sensors into digital values.
There are two main operational modes in the capacitance sensing circuits: self-capacitance sensing and mutual capacitance sensing. The self-capacitance sensing mode is also called single-electrode sensing mode, as each sensor needs only one connection wire to the sensing circuit. For the self-capacitance sensing mode, touching the sensor increases the sensor capacitance as added by the finger touch capacitance is added to the sensor capacitance.
The mutual capacitance change is detected in the mutual capacitance sensing mode. Each sensor uses at least two electrodes: one is a transmitter and the other is a receiver. When a finger touches a sensor or is in close proximity to the sensor, the capacitive coupling between the receiver and the transmitter of the sensor is decreased as the finger shunts part of the electric field to ground.
The capacitance sensing circuits used for the mutual capacitance sensing may have current or voltage inputs. The current input capacitance sensing circuits have low input impedance and provide best external noise suppression abilities. The voltage input capacitance sensing circuits have high input impedance and operate on the capacitive divider operation principle. The voltage input capacitance sensing circuits are suitable for sensing capacitance via high-resistance materials. However, the drawback is poor noise immunity, as potential input circuits may be too sensitive to environmental noise.